Snapchat sure packed a big one in its latest update, from trophy cases to GIF-like profile icons (did anyone else try fitting their face into the little ghost?) but the biggest crowd-pleaser is the ability to decorate our snaps with unlimited emojis.

Prior to the update, users would have to use up the limited character space to input emoji as text. This proved limiting not only for the fact that you were torn between typing out your spontaneous thought or cover it up with emoji, then enlarging the text (a hidden tip) to position it, but also because many users still don’t have emoji installed in their keyboard (thank you Android for that!).

On Snapchat, a new icon has appeared next to the text tool, which brings up a full-screen, horizontally scrollable emoji selector with the same categories we all know and love. In execution, it plays much like adding stickers over your image, opening up a door of possibilities for commercial exploit a la Facebook or Line’s sticker systems.

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This is where the fun starts. Users can select as many emojis as they please and position them all over their snap. Once placed, the user can resize them by pinching it with their fingers, rotating them and even adjusting the layers to decide which emoji should go on top of which. The function works for both images and video and allows text to be added separately from the classic T icon.

While the new function is a step in the right direction to further streamline the editing tools, it has potential to impact the average time a user spends crafting a snap, and therefore, on the app. Snapchat has already proven successful in extending the life of a user’s session within the app with features such as live events, local events and my story, and this could be a hint of bigger things to come.

In the meantime, we can’t wait to see how users will experiment with emojis and give brands the extra push to keep implementing them in unique ways within their content.

Alex Totaro is a passionate digital marketer who’s life is, essentially, a stream of screens with cups of coffee in between. He now resides in London, UK, after working with the likes of SpongeBob and the Ninja Turtles at Nickelodeon Latin America and considers TV-watching his favourite sport.